H200 chips not sold to China

Nvidia still has not shipped any H200 artificial intelligence chips to Chinese companies, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on April 22. (aol.com) The H200 is Nvidia’s second-most advanced AI chip, built for training and running large AI models in data centers. Lutnick said none had been sold into China as of Wednesday, even after Washington opened a path for some exports earlier this year. (aol.com; bis.gov) The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security said on January 13, 2026 that it would review H200 export license applications for China on a case-by-case basis. The rule requires security conditions, customer screening, and U.S.-based third-party testing before shipments can qualify. (bis.gov) Nvidia had already told investors on February 25, 2026 that only “small amounts” of H200 products for China-based customers had been approved by the U.S. government and that the company had “yet to generate any revenue” from them. That left a gap between formal approval and actual delivery. (cnbc.com; q4cdn.com) The delay shows how advanced-computing trade now depends on two governments, not just one supplier and one buyer. Reuters reported that approvals and sales terms have been slowed on both the U.S. and China sides. (aol.com) That matters because China was once a much larger engine for Nvidia’s data-center business. In its annual report for the fiscal year ended January 26, 2025, Nvidia said China data-center revenue had grown but remained “well below” levels seen before tighter export controls. (q4cdn.com) Washington’s chip rules have shifted several times in the past two years, moving from broad restrictions toward narrower licensing for selected products and customers. Each revision changes what Chinese cloud firms, model developers, and hardware brokers can realistically buy and deploy. (bis.gov; cnbc.com) The result is a market where the most valuable asset is often not a single chip model but flexibility. Companies that can train software across different processors, or switch between U.S. and domestic suppliers, are better positioned when export policy changes faster than procurement plans. (cfr.org; cnbc.com) For now, the headline is simpler than the policy fight behind it: Washington created a channel for limited H200 sales in January, and by April 22 that channel still had not delivered a single chip to China. (bis.gov; aol.com)